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NOTICE 



OP 



THE LIFE AND CHARACTER 



OP 



HON. JOHN DAVIS, 



READ BEFORE THE 



AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, 



AT ITS MEETING HELD IN BOSTON 



ON THE 2Cth OF APRIL, 1854. 



/ 



BY HON. THOMAS KTNNICUTT, 

OP WORCESTER. 






i.s.A, _^.;J 



^ BOSTON 

PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON & SON, 

22, School Street. 

1854. 



ET 3^0 



The followiniif notice of the life and character of the Hon. 
John Davis formed a part of the Report' of the Council of 
the American Antiquarian Society, made to a meeting 
of the Society held in Boston on the 26th of April, 1854 ; 
and is published in this form by direction of the Society. 



NOTICE. 



Within a few days, death has agafti invaded our 
ranks. The President of this Society, the Hon. John 
Davis, died at his residence in Worcester, on Wed- 
nesday, the nineteenth instant. 

It would be dcpartmg from the custom of the Coun- 
cil, as well as doing injustice to their o^vn feelings 
and the character of the deceased, if they were to close 
this report without a tribute to his memory. 

For the last quarter of a century, the name of John 
Davis has been intimately associated with the councils 
of his native State or with those of the Union. Du- 
ring that period, he has borne a part in public affairs 
which will identify him with the history of his times, 
and give to him a position among the wise and patrio- 
tic statesmen of his country. Of such a one, when 
enrolled among our members, and holding as he did 
the position of our presiding officer, it is, though a 
sad, yet not an ungrateful duty to inscribe a brief 



6 



notice upon the pages of our records, and thus to tes- 
tify to our successors and to posterity the estimate 
which we entertam of his services and his charac- 
ter. 

John Davis was born on the thirteenth day of 
January, 1787, in the town of Northhorough, in the 
county of Worcester. Of a parentage neither afflu- 
ent nor poor, it was his good fortune to feel the neces- 
sity of that personal effort and persevering industry 
which lie at the foundation of all success in life. Like 
most of the distinguished men of New England, his 
early training v^s upon his paternal farm and in the 
common schools of his native town, where he acquired 
that hardihood of physical constitution, which, in after 
years, bore him through many an hour of suffering 
from acute disease, and, with the rudiments of educa- 
tion, those traits of character which contributed essen- 
tially to his success in the rough contests of his 
subsequent career. 

After the usual preparation, a part of which was 
made at Leicester Academy, he entered the Freshman 
class of Yale College in the year 1808, and graduated 
in course with honor in 1812. 

Having selected the law for his profession, he 
entered upon its study in the office of the Hon. Fran- 
cis Blake of Worcester, who then stood unrivalled at 
the Bar of that county, and was admitted as an attor- 
ney in 1815. Just ten years from that time, in 
December, 1825, he took his seat in the Congress of 



the United States, as the representative of the Wor- 
cester South District. In that position he continued 
eight years, until January, 1834, when, having been 
elected Governor of the Commonwealth, he entered 
upon the duties of that office, in the discharge of 
which he continued until March, 1835, when he took 
his seat in the Senate of the United States, to which 
he had been elected by the Legislature then in ses- 
sion. He remained a member of the Senate until 
January, 1841, when he rcassumed the office of 
Governor of the State, having been elected in the 
autumn of 1840, and continued to discharge its duties 
imtil January, 1843, when, having been defeated in 
the previous Gubernatorial canvas, he remained in 
private life until March, 1845. In that year, upon 
the death of the Hon. Isaac C. Bates, then a Senator 
from Massachusetts, he was elected his successor by 
the Legislature, and continued to represent the State 
until the 4th of March, 1853, when, upon the expira- 
tion of his term, he finally retired to private life. 

It will be seen by these dates, that he was eight 
years and a fraction of a year a representative in Con- 
gress, three years and a fraction Governor of the 
Commonwealth, and nearly fourteen years a member 
of the Senate of the United States ; making twenty- 
five years, or more than half of his entire manhood, 
spent in the public service. 

The success of Mr. Davis in his profession was 
remarkable. He has been known to say, that his dif- 



8 



fidence was so great in early life, that, for years after 
he had acquired some reputation at the Bar, he never 
rose to address the court or jury without embar- 
rassment ; yet, at the end of ten years after his admis- 
sion to practice, upon the elevation of Governor 
Lincoln to the Bench, he was the acknowledged head 
of his profession in a county of wide extent, and 
always distinguished for the ability of its Bar. As an 
advocate, he had few superiors in Massachusetts. 
Others there were more eloquent, possessed of more 
genius, capable of producing more thrilling effect by 
impassioned declamation and beautiful imagery ; but 
there were few, if any, possessed of more power to 
convince or persuade a New England jury. His ima- 
gination was always subordinate to his judgment ; 
perhaps he had too little of the former facidty. He 
seldom indulged in declamation. His strength lay in 
the clearness of his statement, in logical arrangement, 
in a facility of grouping the evidence bearing upon a 
given point, in a sagacity that never failed him in the 
selection of the topics and illustrations suited to 
the tribmial he addi*essed, with which his mind was 
stored by extensive reading and wide observation; 
and, added to this, a smcerity of manner so perfect 
that it could not be counterfeit. It is not strange, 
that, with such endo\\Tnents, he should be successful 
with a jury composed of men distmguished, as most 
New England juries are, for their common sense, ear- 
nest to discover the truth, and suspicious of all attempts 



to lead their jiulgment astray by appeals to their feel- 
ings or imagination. 

As a lawyer, ^Ir. Davis was not remarkable for 
extensive reading. In this, his maxim was, " Miiltum, 
noil multa.'" His mind was well stored with legal 
principles, and he seldom failed of making a just 
application of them in practice. His arguments ad- 
dressed to the court were always characterized by this 
habit of his mind ; and, though he never permitted 
himself to be surprised by the citation of cases which 
he had not seen, he relied more upon well-settled 
principles, and the deductions logically made from 
them by his own mind, than by the citation of any 
number of analogous authorities. He was always lis- 
tened to by the court with attention, as one who had 
something to say, and from whom something might be 
learned, a fact which means something more than a 
compliment in the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. 

But it was as a statesman that Governor Da\is was 
most distinguished, and upon his character in. this 
capacity "vvill rest his chief claim to an enduring repu- 
tation. He had not long been a member of the House 
of Representatives before he became distinguished. 
The system of protection to American industry was 
then just assuming a decided character, and he at 
once gave to it the aid of his intellect, his industry, 
and experience. His opinions upon all questions 
connected with it were highly respected ; and it was 
in no small degree under his auspices, as a leader in 

2 



10 



the House, that the system was finally perfected. In 
the contests growmg out of this policy, he encoun- 
tered the most distinguished of its opponents m that 
body, and, in the opinion of its friends at least, achieved 
a decided triumph. When it is remembered that Mr. 
McDuffie of South Carolina was then the leading 
supporter of the opposite side of the question, this is 
no light distinction. The weapons which win success 
in such a warfare must have no ordinary temper, and 
be wielded with no want of strength or skill. 

It was in the latter part of his service in the House, 
that South Carolina took her position on the subject 
of a practical nullification of the tariff laws, in the 
enactment of which he had taken so conspicuous a 
part ; and that the integrity of the Union was directly 
and imminently threatened. It will be recollected by 
many with what equanimity and firmness he bore 
himself through all that trying period, yielding to no 
unmanly fears, but possessing his spirit calmly in the 
conviction of a just cause, and reassuring others by 
his confidence in the strength of the constitution to 
carry itself safely through the crisis. 

Upon his elevation to the Senate, he entered upon 
an arena in which it was still more difficult to acquire 
and sustain a reputation of a high order ; for there, 
in addition to a host of other able men, stood, in the 
full strength of their manhood, with every muscle 
and sinew and nerve in vigorous action, that great trio 
of intellectual champions, around whose contests of 



11 



almost superhuman power already tradition is casting 
the halo of an heroic age. It is not, of course, in a 
comparison with these, in their peculiar characteris- 
tics, that Governor Davis is to find his true position 
as a debater or a statesman. The matchless manner 
and the " voice divine " of Henry Clay never yet fell 
to other mortal lot. Mr. Calhoun's remorseless logic 
and metaphysical skill were pre-eminently his own. 
And Mr. Webster's grasp of intellect and sublime 
imagination were as unequalled as the brow which 
foreshadowed them. Into this arena, Governor Davis 
brought that admirable temper, that sagacity, that 
dispassionate wisdom, which had distmguished him in 
the House, and which had now culminated to their 
zenith ; and he soon took a rank, which never deserted 
him, among the wisest and most able members of that 
remarkable body. 

There he renewed his efforts in support of the pro- 
tection of American industry, and for many years 
defended the policy whenever it needed defence. His 
speech in 1840, in reply to Mr. Buchanan of Penn- 
sylvania, will be remembered as one of his most suc- 
cessful efforts, and as having had probably more 
influence among the masses, in the unparalleled poli- 
tical contest of that year, than any other document 
that issued from the press. 

For many years he was the Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Commerce in the Senate ; and, though the 
duties of that Committee were foreign from his early 



12 



pursuits and studies, he applied himself to the dis- 
charge of them with such energy and devotion, that 
he soon mastered the principles and details of the 
subjects referred to him. As a branch of commerce, 
his attention was early attracted to the fisheries, in 
which his own constituents were largely and success- 
fully engaged ; a department of industry, which, 
whether we consider its importance to the national 
wealth and national defence, or the fearless hardihood 
with which it is pursued in every climate and sea, 
justifies the magnificent and prophetic eulogium of 
Burke, who saw in it the promise of the future great- 
ness of a people then but m the " gristle of manhood." 
The prophecy has become history ; and however some 
may have been disposed to disparage this element of 
national prosperity and honor, Mr. Davis claimed for 
it the fostering care and protection of the government, 
and on all occasions gave to the brave mariners em- 
ployed in it his steadfast support. Many a bold 
seaman, as he pursued his prey on the stormy banks 
of Newfoundland, amid the icebergs of the polar sea, 
or beneath the burning sun of the torrid zone, has 
had reason to bless the vigilant care of the fearless 
senator, who never forgot or failed him when his rights 
needed a defender. 

When he left the chair of the Committee on Com- 
merce, it was admitted by common consent, that it 
had never been filled with more fidelity, or with 
greater usefulness to the country. One of his last 



13 



labors as a member of the Senate was the framing 
and perfectmg a bill for the regulation of steam na^-i- 
gation, with the object of diminishing the immense 
hazard to life with which it had been attended ; and, 
though opposed by adverse interests, and thwarted 
by all the arts of which parliamentary skill is master, 
he succeeded in establishing a code of regulations 
whose beneficial effects have already been widely felt, 
and which is destined in the future, in no small 
degree, to ensure safety in the use of that fearful 
power which we have harnessed to our commerce, and 
have hitherto left almost without control. 

But it was not to such special subjects as the 
tariff and commerce, large though they are, and com- 
prehensive enough to monopolize the labors of a life, 
that he limited his attention. His was a mind which 
could not content itself with specialties, however use- 
ful or absorbing. He surveyed the whole map of 
statesmanship, and w^as satisfied to leave no part of it 
unexplored. The principles of international law, of 
diplomatic intercoiu'se, of constitutional law as applied 
to the States and the general government, and the 
conflicts between them,, our systems of finance and 
public domam, our foreign and our domestic relations, 
the great questions of peace and war, of international 
duties and international rights; — all these, and many 
more, he made his study ; and upon them all, who- 
ever has read the debates ^of the Senate through the 
period of his membership, during which all of them 



14 



have been discussed, and still more those who have 
enjoyed the privilege of his conversation, must have 
been impressed with the great extent of his knowledge, 
the comprehensiveness of his intellectual vision, and 
the high character of his practical wisdom. 

On the agitating questions of a domestic character 
which have been discussed during his connection with 
the Senate, while he steadily maintained the rights 
and defended the interests of the North, Mr. Davis 
was always ready to do justice to the South. With 
him her constitutional rights were sacred ; for to the 
constitution he acknowledged no divided allegiance. 
Whatever provisions were found clearly set down in 
that instrument were fundamental articles in his poli- 
tical creed. He never complained of them or at- 
tempted to evade them. He was accustomed to take 
enlarged views of the various and diversified interests 
of the country, as forming in combination the strength 
of a great and united empire, destined m its integrity 
to advance the civilization of the world beyond any 
experience in its history, and by its dissolution, if dis- 
solved it shoidd be, to retard it by fearful and unde- 
fined perils and disasters. H/s regarded the union of 
the States, therefore, as a priceless blessing, to be 
maintained only by a faithful adherence to the com- 
promises of the constitution. But, while he w^as ever 
ready to respect the rights of other sections of the 
Union, he firmly insisted upon those of his own ; and 
upon all questions on which he was to act, involvmg 



15 



either, he claimed, what he freely conceded to others, 
the right to be guided by his own independent judg- 
ment. This he followed, on more than one occasion, 
with a fearlessness which dared to obey conscience 
and duty, regardless of personal hazard or popular 
reproach. 

On the subject of international relations and duties, 
Mr. Davis held sacred the obligation of treaties, and 
the still higher obligation of dealing justly, under all 
circumstances, with other nations, whether bound by 
treaties or not. His mind revolted from all attempts 
to wrest from the weak their rights or their territory, 
either by encouraging lawless individual enterprises, 
or by seeking occasions to involve them in national 
quarrels. The doctrine of a manifest destiny, in 
accordance with which we are to extend our republi- 
can empire, by right or by wrong, over the whole 
continent, found no lodgment in his mind. He ad- 
hered to that safer, that more benignant policy, which 
seeks to cultivate, to civilize, and adorn the vast 
empu'e which we already possess, rather than that 
which covets new provinces at the expense of national 
honor, and it may be of national security. 

In regard to the question of intervention in Euro- 
pean politics, which so much excited the country 
during the visit of that extraordinary and erratic 
genius, the distinguished Hungarian exile, he quietly 
reposed upon the great doctrine of the father of his 
country, and lived to see the storm of popular entliu- 



16 



siasm subside into the calm of a conservative public 
opinion ; a result for which, in the closing days of 
his life, in view of the events transpiring upon the 
continent of Europe, he had reason to be grateful, as 
a lover of the peace and prosperity of his country. 

Neither the limited time for the preparation of this 
notice, nor the occasion itself, admits of an extended 
review of Mr. Davis's opinions upon subjects of public 
policy, or of greater detail in regard to his senatorial 
career. His personal influence in that body, during 
the latter part of his connection with it, and up to the 
hour he left it, was probably unsurpassed by that of 
any other member. The sober thoughtfulness and 
spotless integrity of his life, his freedom from extra- 
vagance of manner or expression, his extensive and 
accurate information on subjects the most diverse, his 
ability to grapple with and master both principles and 
details, his readiness to impart knowledge, his long 
experience in public aflairs, his reputation for solid 
judgment, his wisdom in council and firmness in time 
of trial, united to give him a position in the Senate, 
which any who sat there might well be content to 
occupy. It may safely be said of him, that few men 
have at any time belonged to that august body who 
have possessed greater capacity for the service of the 
country, few who have exerted their talents with 
more fidelity, and fewer still who have accomplished 
more beneficial results. 

When Governor Davis was first elected to the 



n 



office of Chief Magistrate of the Commonwealth, he 
had never been connected with the State Government. 
His public life had been confined to Congress, as the 
representative of his district. Ilis reputation acquired 
there was the basis of his popularity at home. Suc- 
ceeding one of the most popular and efficient chief 
magistrates the State had ever had, the post was a dif- 
ficult one to fill, without suffering by the comparison 
which would be sure to be instituted. It is praise 
enough to say gf him, that he filled it without a dimi- 
nution m the amount of public regard which his pre- 
decessor had won. He remamed in the office of 
Governor at this time but little more than a year, 
when he was transferred to the Senate. His selection 
a second time as the candidate of his party for the 
executive office was in 1840, when the political con- 
trol of the State had passed into the hands of its 
opponents, and when it was deemed necessary to put 
in nomination the strongest man in the popular favor 
whom the party possessed within its ranks. There 
was no doubt in the minds of any who that man was ; 
and the result, in his election by a popular majority 
of nearly twenty thousand votes, showed the wisdom 
of the selection. His executive administrations were 
characterized by a careful and conscientious attention 
to every department of duty, by a strict regard to the 
constitutional limitations upon his authority, by a 
jealous guardianship of the rights of the State in her 
relations with the General Government and her sister 



18 



States, and by a watchful concern in all her industrial 
interests, in her educational system, and her charitable 
institutions. 

But the executive department of government was 
not that which was best suited to his tastes, or the 
character of his mind. He liked better the larger 
questions and broader field of contemplation opened 
to the statesman in the national legislature, and he 
returned to the Senate with no wish again to assume 
the responsibilities and duties of executive station. 
Here he remained until within little more than a 
year of his death, when he returned to 'his home, with 
the intention of never again leaving it' for public life. 
And there, his labors ended, and his work all done, 
he died, — 



" Like one who -RTaps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 



Massachusetts mourns his death as a public loss. 
Well she may. She never had a wiser, a more faith- 
ful, or a more useful statesman. Long Avill she hold 
his services in grateful remembrance. Numerous as 
have been her distinguished men, and provid as she 
has reason to be of the long line of patriots who have 
illustrated her annals and adorned her councils, none 
have left to her the legacy of a nobler or a purer 
public life. 

Distinguished as Governor Davis was in public, 
it was in the relations of private life that the true 



19 



worth of his character was best known and appre- 
ciated. Unostentatious in his manners, simple to a 
remarkable degree in his tastes, steadfast in his inte- 
grity under all circumstances, easy to be approached 
by the humble, always ready to listen to the weak 
and the friendless, stern and uncompromising in his 
resistance to wrong, social in his habits, genial in 
his disposition, and constant m his friendships, he 
was peculiarly fitted to adorn a private station, and to 
make happy the narrow circle of home and neighbor- 
hood and friends. These genial and agreeable quali- 
ties accompanied him in his intercourse with public 
men ; and, above all, his allegiance to truth followed 
him wherever he went, and whatever he did. In pri- 
vate and in public life, the " incorriipta fides " of the 
man and the statesman never deserted him. _ It was 
the pole-star of his life, and, like the " in hoc^vinces " 
of Constantine, always flamed on the sky before hun. 

Governor Davis was a man of large reading, and of 
wide and minute observation. His knowledge was 
extensive and various. It was difficult to suggest a 
subject on which something could not be learned 
from him. He had devoted much time to the reading 
of history, both ancient and modem ; and few persons 
were so thoroughly instructed in the details of our 
own colonial and national history. In the later years 
of his life, he resumed the reading of ancient classic 
authors, among whom Caesar, Tacitus, and Livy ac- 
corded best with his tastes. 



20 



In conversation he possessed remarkable power. 
Few men eqnalled him as a talker. His resources 
seemed to be never-failing. It was delightful to listen 
to him, as he sat in his o^vn house, surrounded by his 
friends, pouring forth instruction by the hour, from 
lips that never tired, and from a mmd never exhausted 
of its treasures, upon themes of the most varied cha- 
racter, social, political, historical, moral, — rising from 
those of ordinary interest, up to those which deal 
with the highest questions of human life and human 
destiny. Had Governor Davis's lot been cast in .a fli^ . 
ferent sphere, had he occupied the chair of history or 
moral philosophy in a university, there can be little 
doubt that he would have achieved a fame as honor- 
able, if not as distmguished, as that which crowned 
his political career. ^* 

Though deeply engrossed with the cares and duties 
of political station, he yet found time to interest him- 
self m those benevolent enterprises which have' for 
their object the improvement of the world in ci^dliza- 
tion, in morals, and religion. In the proceedings of 
the American Bible Society he felt a warm interest, 
and consented for a number of years to act as the 
President of the Worcester County Auxiliary Bible 
Society, in which capacity he afforded efficient aid to 
the parent association. Penetrated himself with a 
conviction of the inspiration of the Scriptures, and of 
the truth of the great and beneficent doctrines of the 
Christian religion, he regarded their circulation, in 






21 



every tongue and in every land, as the means of tlie 
moral elevation, and the general and peimanent ci\dli- 
zation of the human race. 

Of the interest which he felt in this institution, and 
the attention which he devoted to its concerns, the 
reports of the council from year to year will testify. 
As its friend and constant benefactor, he bestowed 
upon it many and valuable favors ; and, as its Presi- 
dent, he conferred upon it honor, and devoted to it 
the last services of his life. 

itr But it is time to bring this notice to a close. 
Again we are reminded by this event of the fearful 
havoc which death has made among us within the last 
three years, — 

. " The great are falling from us ; " 
r 

Calhoun, Clay, Webster, — all within so short a space, 
that, as each departed, he seems to have been calling 
to the next to follow him. And now Davis has 
joined them, may we not believe, to unite with their 
spirits in that higher council, around the throne of 
the Most High. 



22 



EE SOLUTIONS. 



After the preceding report was read, Hon. Robert 
C. WiNTHROP rose, and spoke as follows : — 

I pray leave, Mr. Vice-President, to present to*;tlie ^^^ 
Society a resolution or two, for the purpose of placifife^^ 
formally upon the records of this meeting the vfewsr"' *.*• 
which have been already expressed on all sides of the 
hall. They relate, I need not say, to our lamented 
President, whose death has been so fitly and feelingly 
announced to us in the Report of the Council. 

It has been my good fortune to know Governor 
Davis long and well. It is twenty years this very . 
month, since I entered his military family (as it is C 
sometimes called) as his senior aide-de-camp, upon his ' 
first election to the office of Governor of Massachu- 
setts. From that time to this, hardly a year has 
elapsed in which I have not been associated with him 
in some sphere or other of the public service. I have 
known him, for years together, in the intimacies of a 
Congressional mess, where all that is peculiar in pri- 
vate character is sure to make itself known. And it 
has been my privilege, too, to serve at his side in the 
Senate Chamber of the United States, during a brief, 



i 



23 



but crowded and momentous, period in the history of 
our national legislation. I desire, under these circum- 
stances, sir, to bear my humble testimony to the many 
excellent and noble qualities, both of head and of 
heart, which distinguished him everywhere alike. No 
better or worthier senator, in my humble judgment, 
was ever sent to the Capitol from Massachusetts, or 
from any other State, than John Davis ; none more 
intelligent, more industrious, more faithful, more use- 
ful, more- pure, disinterested, and patriotic. 
■ ''^•Hi.s pli^sical health and vigor were, it is true, not 
...V^l-w^ays equal to the demands which were made upon 
him. He had, too, a natural repugnance to every 
thing in the nature of ostentation or personal display. 
But he had . a word ably and fitly and eloquently 
spoken for every occasion where it was called for; 
and he had, what is better than a whole volume of 
words, a quick eye, a listening ear, an attentive and 
thoroughly informed mind, and a punctual personal 
presence, for the daily and practical proceedings of 
Congress. No man took a more active interest, and 
no man exerted a more valuable influence, in regard 
to the real business of the country. Though born 
and bred in the interior of the State, and educated to 
the profession of the Bar, his mind seemed to have a 
natural facility for grappling with the difficult ques- 
tions of trade and currency and tariff's, which belong 
more peculiarly to those who have their homes upon 
the sea-board, and who are personally engaged in com- 



24: 



mercial aflaii's. Upon questions of this sort, his 
opinion was often appealed to, almost as law. More 
than one occasion might be cited, where that opinion 
was deferred to implicitly, as an all-sufficient authority 
to govern the action of the Senate, even by those least 
inclined and least accustomed to waive any views of 
their own. The labor of the country, and the com- 
merce and navigation of the country, owe him a debt 
which could not easily have been paid, had he lived ; 
and which now, alas ! can only be the subject of empty « 
and formal recognition. *^ ^w£/'-" 

Above all, sir, he was a just and virtuous mai:^^,^ 
whose daily life was without spot or blemish, ^"and 
whose example may be commended, without qualifi- 
cation, to the imitation of both young and old. As 
such, his name belongs to the treasures of our State 
and nation, and his memory can never fail to be che- 
rished by all who appreciate the value of virtuous and ' "* 
Christian statesmen. > # 

I ought to apologize, Mr. Vice-President, for having \ 
added a syllable to the able and admirable tributes to 
which we have just listened, in the Eeports of my 
friend Judge Kinnicutt, and of our devoted Librarian ; 
and I Avill only trespass further upon your time by 
submitting the follo-vving resolutions : — 

Resolved, That we have learned with unfeigned sensibility 
and sorrow the sudden death of our distinguished and excel- 
lent President, and that this Society will ever cherish his 
memory with the warmest regard and respect. 



25 



Resolved, That the President's chaii-, m the Society's hall 
at Worcester, be shi'ouded with black until the next annual 
meeting ; and that the Council be requested to take measures 
for adding a portrait of Governor Davis to the Society's 



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Resolved, That the thanks of the Society be presented to 
the Council for the admirable memoir of our lamented Presi- 
dent which they have presented in their Report, and that 
they be instructed to prepare it for the press in a form in 
which it may have general circulation. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be communicated 
to the widow and family of Governor Davis, with an assurance 
of the sincere sympathy of the Society in their afflicting 

bereavement. 
ft ^^* 

1*lie Honorable Abbott Lawrence arose to second 
the resolutions, which, he said, would unquestiona- 
bly receive an affiraiative response from every mem- 
ber of the Society. They indeed required no advocacy 
from him, or any other person, to secure their passage ; 
but he felt it due to the relations he had sustained to 
the deceased, of a public and private nature, that he 
should not permit the question to be taken until he 
had tendered his humble tribute to exalted wtues, 
the memorv of which is so dear to us all. 

It had been the happy privilege of the speaker to 
be associated with Governor Davis in bonds of social 
intimacy for a long series of years ; he had also been 
connected with him in the care or arrangement of 
many important matters of general interest. He could 
say of Governor Da^'is, that no one could be a more 



26 



true and judicious friend; no one more devoted to 
the faithful discharge of delegated power ; no one in 
whose bosom glowed a more pure or ardent patriot- 
ism; no one whose moral character was more free 
from blemish. Governor Davis possessed extraordi- 
nary sagacity, incorruptible integrity, and industry 
which never flinched in the face of arduous labor. 
These qualities, backed by the results of close obser- 
vation of men, and extensive researches in books, 
enabled him to take and retain a position in our 
national councils which it has fallen to the lot of few 
men to achieve. They were qualities which ev^m 
political hostility has neither depreciated n'or denied 
and whose beneficial effects illuminate the pages of 
our nation's legislative history. ^ 

Mr. Lawrence said it would be superfluous for him 
to specify the many and noble results of Governor 
Davis's public labors. They were on record, and had 
already been ably and eloquently set forth in the 
Reports which had just been laid before the Society. 
The good which he has done " is not interred with the 
bones " of the great man who has fallen : the State and 
the nation have been made happier and better by his 
life. Mr. Lawrence (of whose remarks the above is 
but an outline) concluded by an affecting allusion to 
the beauty of the character of the deceased in his 
domestic relations. 




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